Last year, the William T. Cozby Library in Coppell had 308,914 visitors. A library expansion and renovation is No. 2 on the Coppell Recreation Development Corporation Committee's proposal to reauthorize and broaden the scope of projects under the half-cent sales tax.

Library clerk Rebecca Hood (left) sacks Meg Guerra and her children's books. Hood has worked at the library for seven years, and said she has seen continued growth and a demand in services.

Coppell Parks and Recreaction Director Brad Reid (left) and Coppell Recreation Development Committee Chairman Ed Guignon stand next to the erosion control construction underway at Andy Brown Park East. The park is part of a master planned redevelopment that requires voters to reauthorize a half-cent sales tax in November.

A wall was built to help erosion control at Andy Brown Park East. The park is part of a master planned redevelopment that requires voters to reauthorize a half-cent sales tax in November.

Before 1996, park land in Coppell consisted of Andy Brown Park East and West, a couple of sports fields and a senior center in Old Town Coppell.

A smaller city at the time, residents didn’t need much. But today, because of Coppell’s growth in population, with newer developments in the southern sector of the city, city services are experiencing some strain.

Interested in improving quality of life for Coppell residents, the parks and recreation department moved to capitalize on a portion of the city’s 1-percent sales tax provided by the state’s 8.25-percent sales tax collections.

The nonprofit Coppell Recreation Development Corp. was created to work as an extension of the city. In 1996, voters approved, using a portion of the city’s local sales tax to spruce up Coppell parks and recreation centers.

In 15 years, the half-cent sales tax has provided $56 million in revenue for construction and continued maintenance of the Coppell Aquatic Center and adjoined recreation center, Wagon Wheel Park’s sports complex and the first phase of hike-and-bike trails within the Andy Brown parks.

“The half-cent sales tax has been very successful and improved quality of life in Coppell,” said Ed Guignon, chairman of Coppell Recreation Development Corp. Reauthorization Committee. “And the best part is that we haven’t had to increase property taxes.”

With a $4.2 million surplus of funds from the tax, set to expire in the spring of 2018, the council-appointed CRDC committee presented a plan to broaden the scope of projects the tax could fund and to continue it indefinitely at the council’s Tuesday meeting.

Several council members voiced concerns about continuing the half-cent sales tax indefinitely. City manager Clay Phillips said council should look at alternatives in their Tuesday general funding budget workshop. The CRDC committee proposed the tax — which has provided about $6 million annually — be extended at least 25 years or through a debt-service payout for bonds used to complete beginning projects.

The item is expected to return to council for a vote by its first August meeting. If approved, the reauthorization and broadening of the half-cent sales tax will return to the ballot for voters Nov. 5.

Top-proposed projects for the tax include redevelopment of the entire Andy Brown Park system, expansion and renovations to William T. Cozby Library, and a master plan to develop a citywide trail system that connects with surrounding cities’ trails.

About 65 percent of the half-cent sales tax revenue comes from commercial and industrial companies on the west side of Coppell, and most of the remaining 35 percent from visitors and workers who do not live in the city, Guignon said.

Phase 1 of an $800,000 erosion control project at Andy Brown East Park is an effort to maintain the trail system. A seawall is under construction to keep the trail from experiencing erosion.

“It’s really an effort to maintain and preserve our facilities. It will have to do with funding,” said Brad Reid, parks and recreation director. “We have more people in a smaller area and we are trying to accommodate those folks with the best parks we can have.”

Because Coppell is not a DART-member city, it has an additional 1 percent from the state’s 8.25-percent sales tax that can be used for capital improvement projects. Irving, a DART-member city, uses a portion of its 1 percent on business incentives, which seven-year park board member Jack Clark said Coppell has no interest in.

“For me, personally, why I got involved with this is this is an excellent way for a city to get projects completed without putting a property tax burden on people and to get enhancements made in the city of Coppell to improve the quality of life,” Clark said.

Although Coppell has much more to offer residents than it did in 1996, the current half-cent sales tax is limiting more improvements the growing city needs.

“The only downside is that we can’t use the funds beyond hike and bike trails, Wagon Wheel and the aquatic and recreation center, which are all built out, with exception of the trail system,” Clark said.

In 1996, there wasn’t a track record for the tax and its funding, so the committee and park board kept it simple with restrictions on use of the funds. Guignon said allowing a broader scope for projects would have been beneficial to recent items such as the Coppell dog park, Biodiversity Education Center and Kid Country rebuild, which were not funded by the tax because of its limitations.

Today, Coppell residents have made their interests in city services known in the city’s 2030 plan, a community master plan compiled in 2012.

The Cozby library expansion and renovation is one of the top three suggestions to reap the rewards of the CRDC’s half-cent sales tax reauthorization. It falls behind the redevelopment of the 208 acres of the Andy Brown Park system, which would consolidate sports fields in the west, and provide a pavilion and green space in central.

Marcia Raines has been visiting the Coppell library since it operated out of a small wood-frame house on North Coppell Road.

In 1974, a group of volunteers opened Coppell’s first library in the house with 3,000 donated books.

“I remember when the library was a house; it was a tiny little house, and they would stack the books up in the living room and on the kitchen cabinets,” said Raines, a retired teacher. “My son would run into the kitchen to read his book in the sink.”

Quickly outgrowing the house, the library moved into Coppell’s Town Center 12 years later and was renamed in honor of William T. Cozby, a past mayor and civic leader in Coppell. Then, in 1995, the current library next to Town Center Elementary was built.

But with the city’s continued growth, the one-story library isn’t enough.

Last fall, the library began working on a plan with a strategic planning committee made up of Coppell residents to discuss the direction of the library for the next three years, said Coppell library director Vicki Chiavetta.

“One of the strategic initiatives that evolved from the committee is to expand and renovate the library facility to maximize space,” Chiavetta said.

Since the library was constructed in 1995, circulation of materials has increased 335 percent, and the number of visitors has increased 315 percent, while square footage has decreased 35 percent, Chiavetta said. Last year, the library circulated a new high of 632,144 items and had 308,914 visitors. The closest book store to Coppell is in Lewisville.

“Space is in high demand,” Chiavetta said.

The concerns of residents and city employees such as Chiavetta aren’t falling on deaf ears. Guignon said, if passed, the half-cent sales tax reauthorization would give city services like the library room to breathe and to grow.

“The best part of this is there is not an increase in the tax, it’s just continuing on,” Guignon said. “If it’s not reauthorized, we may have to scale back on projects or possibly raise property taxes to fund the projects.”

Neighborsgo Irving/Coppell editor Gloria Hernandez can be reached at 214-977-8027.

SALES-TAX PROJECTS

• Redevelopment of entire 208 acres of Andy Brown Park system

• Expansion and renovations to library

• Phase two of hike and bike trail

• Green space and median improvements across city

• Erosion control in Andy Brown parks

• General parks and sports field improvements

• Fire safety town and multiuse emergency operation center

• Continued maintenance and ongoing operations of parks and facilities